Steam baths have long been a popular method for relaxing and renewing one's energy level. Many people also believe that steam baths have a number of health benefits. Typical steam baths require a mist to be permanently present, requiring energy-intensive components and methods for generating steam.
In practice, those who take steam baths typically do so for 15–20 minutes, sometimes followed by a shower to cool down the body and a second steam bath. Moreover, this can be repeated as many as two to three times for a single session. Steam baths accordingly require a sufficient quantity of water to be heated to its boiling point of 100° C. to produce the requisite amount of steam. This can be quite energy intensive.
In addition, it can take considerable time to heat the required quantity of water to its boiling point; typically, as long as four to six minutes. This is inconvenient, particularly given the fact that the steam bath is taken for 15–20 minutes, as described above. The proportion of total time thereby devoted to waiting for steam is significant. Although one can theoretically utilize the heated water from a home's hot water heater to reduce the waiting time by reducing the temperature gradient that must be transversed to produce steam, the water from a hot water heater typically contains impurities that can harm the steam bath system, shorten its life, and detract from the beneficial health effects attributable to steam baths. Thus, one has typically had to wait a considerably lengthy time before one could engage in a desired steam bath